What do the parent, adult, and child interaction states look like in a dental conversation?
Parent mode is when one person tries to take care of, control, or direct the other as if they need parenting. The doctor lecturing a patient about why they should have done their dentistry years ago is in parent mode. Child mode is when someone makes demands, expresses without self-control, or refuses responsibility for their own situation. A patient who insists the practice should just do whatever the insurance covers, regardless of what they actually need, is in child mode. Adult mode is the highest level. Each person takes responsibility for themselves only, analyzes the situation as objectively as possible, and responds without trying to control or be controlled. Healthy conversations between adults are adult-adult. Dental consultations slip into parent-child, child-child, or parent-parent patterns constantly, and the cases stall there. Recognizing which mode is active in a given moment is the first step toward shifting the conversation back to adult-adult, where real decisions can actually happen.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.